


A Nudge in the Right Direction

by squidgie



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M, M/M, SGA Saturday Prompt Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 10:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidgie/pseuds/squidgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atlantis hasn’t had humans roam her halls for thousands of years, and has missed them.  She decides that, when couples need a helping nudge to get together, that she can do that for them, and is generally pleased with her results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Nudge in the Right Direction

**Author's Note:**

> This came up at Squee Weekend, and we all decided to pick a character and try and write a story with the prompt. My character of choice was Atlantis herself, and this story unfolded in my head.

Atlantis watches as the newcomers wander her halls.  Though she was sure the Major could sense her viewing them from the time he walked through the Stargate, she doesn’t think anyone else on the expedition is able to, which makes her job all that much easier.  
  
Having humans inside the city after so long was definitely a treat, but what Atlantis _really_ missed was the love that she could almost tangibly feel coming off of couples that she housed within her walls.  And beyond that, the joyous laughter of children that often came from the new couples; it was something that she had been deprived of for thousands of years, and wanted a way to remedy.  
  
When there was no movement over the first year between the new settlers (beyond casual dates here and there), Atlantis decides to take action herself, gently guiding those who traveled separate paths, to ones with an intertwined destiny.  Some couples were easy; the scientist Zelenka and the leader Weir for example.  She sensed from both of them the desire for something real, something permanent, and did what she could to get them together, in any way that she could.  Atlantis _was_ sentient, though she couldn’t just hold up a sign saying, “You two are destined to be together”.  Instead, she invented creative malfunctions to the benefit of the couples.  Radek, always the early one to meetings, would go into Elizabeth’s office, and Atlantis would lock the doors shut behind him.  She’d only meant for it to go on for half an hour or so, but let them stay locked up together even longer, until they decided to start talking about life on Atlantis and began opening up to each other.  
  
From there, it was an easy malfunction of a few transporters that even the mighty Rodney McKay couldn’t figure it out.  But after the third time being trapped together in the confined space, and a gentle nudge to Zelenka’s shoulder from a “malfunctioning panel” causing the man to lose balance and lean into Elizabeth, the smiles finally became infectious.  Zelenka finally asks Elizabeth to share a meal as Atlantis lowers the lighting in the transporter ever so slightly.  As far as first kisses go, Atlantis figures it goes well (if increased heart rates and pheromone excretion is any indication), as the pair linger in each others embrace until the door finally pops open, a nosey Doctor Rodney McKay bursting in.  
  
There were others on the expedition that Atlantis helped guide, some easy, and some not so easy.  She locks Major Lorne’s team in Gateship 4 and waits for Lorne and Parrish to be in the same compartment, alone, before she separates them from the other team members, then slowly lowers the temperature until the men are huddled together for warmth.  She makes sure no harm comes of either man, but nearly pulses with pride when, after she lets them out, the two join hands in Lorne’s quarters later that evening, demurely redirecting her attention to other details of the city when Parrish ghosts his lips across Lorne’s as the pair fall into bed.  
  
Major Sheppard, now Colonel since rejoining the city after an expedition to where even Atlantis could not determine his whereabouts, was much harder to understand.  The man was quiet, usually found in his quarters by himself, enjoying his solitude.  She knew that the expedition’s lead scientist, the quick thinking, acerbic-tongued man named McKay, often called out Sheppard’s name at night; sometimes in his sleep, and sometimes as he pleasured himself, but wasn’t sure of Sheppard’s interest until McKay disappeared in a Gateship beneath the surface of the ocean.  Sheppard’s pleas of “Help me find him,” rang off of her walls, the man having no way of knowing that Atlantis had already started the search, and helped guide him and the scientist Zelenka to Rodney’s shuttle with the help of the planet’s giant Flagisalis creatures, to the stricken ship.  
  
Much later that evening, Atlantis again diverts her attention away from the Colonel and the Scientist when she finds the pair in Sheppard’s quarters sharing a quiet moment.  She dims her sensors in the Colonel’s quarters and turns to the nourishment gathering hall, where she ponders which couple to lend a helping nudge to next.


End file.
